Court-Martial Trial Practice

Here is an interesting published decision from ACCA in United States v. Pleasant. The case has a warning, and a reminder of what we often tell clients about testifying. In this case the issue being whether or not the testimony is helpful or hurts, and as ACCA considers: When an accused testifies on his own…

Federal Evidence Review has this list of issues they see as important in the coming year. Note item 2 was decided by the Supremes 9 January, with a ruling that the accused bears the burden to establish withdrawal from conspiracy.

I read Federal Evidence Review daily. It’s an excellent resource on the federal rules of evidence. Here is their “top ten” list for 2012. Obviously not all the points are relevant to MJ practitioners.

Similar to its federal counterpart, Minnesota Rule of Evidence 803(6) provides an exception to the rule against hearsay for A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in…

As noted in yesterday’s post, Federal Rule of Evidence 414(a), In a criminal case in which a defendant is accused of child molestation, the court may admit evidence that the defendant committed any other child molestation. The evidence may be considered on any matter to which it is relevant. So, what exactly counts as “child…

Slate has a piece, The Catch-22 of Eyewitness ID, Juries trust the memory of witnesses even when they shouldn’t. h/t How Appealing.

SCOTUSBlog has this of potential interest. The petition of the day is: New Mexico v. Herring Issue: Whether Berghuis v. Thompkins requires advice that a suspect has the right to stop talking at any time in order to establish an implied waiver of Miranda rights. This case illustrates, again if anything did, the value of…

Peeking Behind the Plea Bargaining Process Laurie L. Levenson Loyola Law School Los Angeles December 11, 2012 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Forthcoming Loyola-LA Legal Studies Paper No. 2012-49 Abstract: The Supreme Court’s rulings in Missouri v. Frye and Lafler v. Cooper, which recognized a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel…

The C. G. Ct. Crim. Apps. has issued an unpublished decision in United States v. Whitaker, in which it discusses whether: Appellant’s conviction under Article 125, UCMJ, for consensual sodomy should be dismissed because the military judge failed to discuss the corresponding liberty interest during the providence inquiry. The court concluded it was proper to…

I’ve posted already about the Oregon case – Oregon v. Lawson. Here is a piece from the excellent Concurring Opinions blog about eyewitness testimony. I would like to underscore Brandon’s point about reform efforts that are currently underway. While for the most part, the criminal justice process is stuck in a bad place (thanks to…